hello, welcome back to "newsline" i'm miki yamamoto in tokyo. first the headlines for this hour. scotland votes no. a majority of scots choose to stay in the united kingdom. american and french leaders are teaming up to provide air support in the battle against islamic state extremists. japan's chief cabinet secretary says the government has been told by north korea

that the investigation into the fates of dozens of abductees is still at the initial stage. scottish voters have decided to remain part of the united kingdom. the votes tallied in the historic referendum on independence the majority of scots have voted no. nhk world's correspondent is in edinburgh. he watched the events unfold. we spoke to him by telephone. >> i'm in front of the scottish parliament right now. i'd say there's about 100 people gathered. mostly young people. mostly from the yes campaign. i asked a few of the people how they feel right now, and after the bbc announced that it's likely that the no camp will win. they basically said they were devastated, they were very emotional and they do believe

what the individuals are saying. a lot of disgust towards the broadcasters. but you know, devastation amongst people from the yes camp. there were actually some people from the no camp here, and the reaction from them was a big sigh of relief. you know, because they wanted the countries to stay together. and big sigh of relief from the no camp. so you know despite the fact that the yes camp had a more visible campaign, i think you know, the silent majority, as they were called, prevailed today, and so this is the situation. >> bbc news says election officials have declared the outcome of all 32 polling districts. 44.7% voted in favor of independence. 55.3% of eligible voters cast their ballots against

separation. bbc says the anti-independent vote has secured a clear majority. it's calling it a victory for the no campaign. campaigners against independence gradually consolidated their support. they said that leading the united kingdom would be bad for scotland. many business leaders expressed strong concern that companies would move their headquarters out of scotland if it became independent. prime minister david cameron said it would have broken his heart to see the unite ed kingd come to an end. >> the people of scotland have spoken. and it is a clear result. they have kept our country of four nations together. and like millions of other people, i am delighted. >> cameron pledged to publish draft laws by the end of november that will grant additional powers to the scottish parliament. scottish national party leader

alex salmond conceded defeat after the results. >> scotland has by majority decided not at this stage to become an independent country. and i accept that verdict of the people and i call on all of scotland to follow suit in accepting the democratic verdict of the people of scotland. >> salmond commended scottish voters for a high turnout. he called it a triumph for the democratic process and participation in politics. people in london reacted to the news. >> it's no. >> we've already got a lot of powers. we just need to use them and consolidate them. >> david maddux is a correspondent with the scottish newspaper, the scotsman. he explained to us why voters have rejected independence, and the impact the result will have.

>> i think the majority of voters in scotland have voted no because they believed, in the end, that the risks and uncertainty of a yes vote of independence were too great. and it was safer to stay to the. and i think many of those people made a decision very late on, literally as they cost their votes on the ballot box. i think the whole campaign, and it's been a long campaign, two years, has actually galvanized, and given a lot of energy to the independence movement in scotland. it's brought in a lot of new people. people who have never engaged in politics before. so, whilst they will be very disappointed with the result, i think actually there will be impetus for it, and we will quite possibly face this

question again, maybe not for some time, maybe ten years, 20 years, but it's not going to go away. >> all right. so now, how is the market responding to the scottish referendum? here's ron madison with that. >> this largely being taken as a positive for the markets. reveefed investors have pushed up tokyo's major benchmarks to its highest point in nearly seven years. investors have reacted to scotland's decision to stay in the uk by shifting their money into equities and other more risky assets. japanese shares are a big winner due to a strong correlation with the weakening yen. the nikkei average climbed 1.6% to 16,321. that's the highest close since november 2007. the weaker yen lifted broader market sentiment, and pushed up export length issues in the auto and machinery sectors. other stock markets in asia finished higher. news about the outcome of a scottish referendum cheered investors across the region.

hong kong's hang seng was up nearly 0.6%, 24,306. investors picked up shares of british names like hsbc. that's one of the biggest single contributors to the index. and the trend was also evident in australia. investors there picking up shares of national australian bank which owns glasgow based clydesdale bank. the asx 200 up to 5,433. the head of the country's central bank have expressed concern about sharp changes in the value of the yen. >> translator: it's hard to say what exchange levels are appropriate. but one thing's for sure is that sudden fluctuations are undesirable. >> translator: recent market moves have been too focused on differences in monetary policies in japan, the u.s., and europe.

>> he said exchange rates should reflect economic fundamentals but added that he doesn't see any major problem with the yen's recent level. china's economy is showing more signs that it's losing steam. factory output in august grew at its slowest pace in nearly six years. data from the national bureau of statistics showed industrial output rose 6.9% from a year earlier. that's the slowest increase since 2008. ai uchida said these numbers will likely do more to stimulate the economy. >> from a perspective the slowdown in industrial output was pretty widespread coming across all different sectors. the most notable figure that we see is really the year-on-year decline in electricity generation. it's something that we haven't seen since 2009, so in the past five years we haven't seen that.

that aside car manufacturing dropped substantially as well and that's reflecting a slow consumer demand for cars and those numbers were particularly weak because the numbers were very strong in the second half of last year. >> so officials want the economy to grow around 7.5% this year. what impact will these factory numbers have on that? >> this piece of negative news is obviously negative impact on the chinese economic growth and adds downside pressure. what we see is that on the chinese economy it's still going to grow by 7.5% and that's going to be supported by policy stimulus and we think that the chinese officials will be accelerating their investment plans, and it highlights that consumer demand has been low and there are substantial difficulties in terms of shifting towards a domestic consumption in the medium term. >> the premier says he won't undertake massive stimulus

measures so what do you think leaders will take to boost the economy? >> well i think in the remaining months they have no other choice than increasing their infrastructure investment again. we have 3 1/2 months to reach the gdp target so they need something that's going to be quick and have a direct impact and infrastructure investment is the way of doing it. so that's basically something that we see. the central bank is going to have and the government is going to increase those levels. latest figures for the first eight months of this year has shown that less than half of this year's railway investment target has been met so you should see that the pick upin the next three months. >> some analysts predict the people's bank of china will cut its interest rate and reserve ratio. what do you think about that? >> we certainly don't expect the chinese central bank to change the overall tone of their monetary policy stance. the chinese government is still pretty committed in terms of cleaning up the excesses in the credit system.

due to overlending in the last couple of years. we see targeted stimulus measures targeting the rural areas and targeting smaller microbusinesses to continue on. we also expect that the central bank may increase their funding to the policy bank to fund infrastructure investment projects, and you'll likely see that in the next couple of weeks. so in the first half of the fourth quarter that's going to help to support growth. >> and japanese government officials have been taking a close look at their economy. and they've seen some troubling signs. they've revised their assessment downward for the first time in five months. the officials released a report for september. they said the economy is still enjoying a moderate recovery. some areas, though, are weak. consumers have been spending less since the consumption tax went up in april from 5% to 8%. they bought fewer air conditioners due to unseasonable typhoons and heavy rains. officials said corporate output remains weak with production of vehicles and parts declining.

prime minister shinzo abe plans to decide by the end of the year whether he'll raise the consumption tax to 10% in october next year. abe says he'll consider the performance of the economy in the july to september quarter when making his decision. department store sales in japan fell again in august. it's the fifth straight month of declines since the consumption tax hike in april. japan's department stores association says 241 stores reported sales of about 3.9 billion dollars for the month. that's down 0.3% from a year ago. but the margin of decline was much less than the 2.5% recorded in july. association officials said cooler weather in late august pushed up sales of autumn clothing but typhoons and heavy rain deterred shoppers, especially those in western japan. sales were up here in tokyo. osaka and other urban areas but remain down elsewhere. the officials say they hope sales will increase this month with urban areas taking the lead. well, it was the day that loyal apple consumers have been

waiting for. they lined up in front of stores in japan and around the world for that matter to get their hands on the company's latest smartphone, the iphone 6 series has gone on sale and as expected, people are pretty excited. we went to an apple store in tokyo to talk with some customers. >> reporter: apple enthusiasts don't mind waiting hours or even days ahead of the launch of a new product. here in tokyo, more than 1,000 people have lined up before the store opened. people are especially upbeat about the big e screen sizes. the iphone 6 is 4.7 inches long, and the iphone plus, 5.5 inches. they both have higher transmission feeds and longer lasting batteries. the traditional countdown has begun. the employees and the customers are giving each other high fives. apple announced on monday that

it set a record for iphone preorders with 4 billion of the two units sold in the first 24 hours. that's double the number of preorders for the iphone 5. demand for the device is exceeding the initial preorder supply. >> translator: iphone 6 is a lot thinner and lighter than i expected. it fits my hand well. >> translator: i think the plus is better because it has more storage. i can film a lot of movies and listen to more music. >> reporter: three major mobile phone companies carry the iphone in japan. all of the firms have launched promotional campaigns. >> translator: i think customers will choose our company, if we provide a good network, phone plan, and hospitality at our store. >> translator: we will provide the same phone plan as other

carriers but we have confidence that we have a faster and more stable network. >> translator: we've been handling the iphone for six years now, so our employees can provide detailed service. we'll compete with the other companies on the strength of our sales. >> reporter: analysts say apple's global smartphone share last year dropped 3.4 points. but apple officials are hoping the new iphones will help put the company in the top spot. nhk world, tokyo. all right. that is going to do it for biz this hour. let's get a check of the markets.

u.s. president barack obama is gearing up readiness for the threat of islamic straight extremists. and he's praising american lawmakers for supporting his plan to train and arm the opposition in syria. >> the strong bipartisan support in congress for this new training effort shows the world that americans are united in confronting the threat from isil. >> the senate approved a spending bill that includes funding to provide weapons to moderate syrian forces. the house of representatives approved the legislation on wednesday. the president also welcomed france's decision to participate in u.s. airstrikes against islamic state militants in iraq. he said he's pleased that french and american servicemen will work together on behalf of the

two nations' shared security and values. obama's comments come as a new video has been released by the islamic state. it shows a man identified as british journalist appearing alone. he was captured by the extremist group after entering syria in 2012. >> i've been abandoned by my government and my fate now lies in the hands of the islamic state. >> islamic state had earlier released footage of the killing of two american journalists, and a british aid worker. the u.n. security council has declared the ebola outbreak in west africa a threat to international peace and security. it's urging all-out global efforts to tackle the crisis. >> the gravity and scale of the situation now requires a level of international action unprecedented for health emergency.

>> delegates to the 15-member body gathered for an emergency meeting. >> -- does not stand up, we will be wiped out. we need your help. we need it now. >> the delegates unanimously adopted a resolution co-sponsored by 130 u.n. member countries. the resolution urges international support for west africa. it calls for lifting travel bans imposed by surrounding nations, and eliminating restrictions on flights and maritime travel to and from countries affected by ebola. the world health organization says more than 2600 people are known or suspected to have died of the ebola virus in four west african countries. ban says the number of cases is doubling every three weeks. north korean officials have

informed japan that their investigations into the fates of japanese nationals aabducted by the north are still in the initial stage. japan's chief cabinet secretary yoshihide suga, says they've communicated through diplomatic routes in beijing. suga said japanese government leaders want to know the progress of the investigation. >> translator: north korean officials said their special investigation committee is sincerely conducts investigations related to all japanese. they added that the investigations are still at an initial stage and expect they will be completed in about a year. they said they cannot comment beyond the current stage at this point. >> suga says the government has demanded that the investigations should cover the abductees and other missing japanese nationals in a comprehensive manner. he says it should be done quickly. he added that leaders in tokyo

will work to promptly obtain a briefing on the latest situation. north korea set up the special committee in july. suga says both sides agreed that the first report may come in the late summer or early autumn. but he says it's not currently known when it will be ready, and he said so far there's been no reason given for the delay. the government says at least 17 japanese nationals were abducted by north korean agents in the 1970s and '80s, but returned to japan in 2002. now, japan has just gotten a little bit bigger. coast guard officials reported that fresh lava flows continuing south of tokyo that took on new proportions last year. the island is located about 900 kilometers from tokyo. it made its way into the news in november when a new island

formed nearby, the result of lava flows from an underwater volcanic vent. in a month, the new island had joined with the original island. an aerial survey by a coast guard aircraft has found several craters in the center of the island. three of them were observed spewing lava and cinders 100 meters into the air, with smoke reaching roughly 1500 meters. the island is now about seven times larger than before the eruption in november. coast guard officials are warning ships operating around the island to be on alert for any sudden changes in volcanic activity. a team of japanese researchers has won one of the top honors, looking at the lighter side of science. it is a spoof of the nobel prize. the awards were handed out at a ceremony at harvard university. >> two, one, commence!

>> since 1991, the group the annals of improvable research has awarded fake nobel prizes annually for ingenuous discoveries. there are ten categories. >> the ignobel prize for physics is awarded -- >> this year's physics prize went to a team from japan. the researchers investigated why banana peels are slippery when you step on them. the project was tighted frictional coefficient under banana skin. ♪ this is a banana >> the scientists measured their slipperyness. they concluded that the peels are six times as slippery as a normal floor. while less slippery than someone on skis on snow.

japanese researchers have won the prize for eight straight years. it's time now to check on the world weather. the philippines are getting slammed with another tropical system, twice in just one week. how bad is it? our meteorologist jonathan oh has the details. jonathan? >> hello. we have been monitoring the philippines for the past few days because we had the storm that moved over the area earlier this week and now we have another tropical system. this is tropical storm funwong and it is dropping a whole lot of rain. but it is also spreading way down throughout the entire country. it is going to be a problem for the next 24 to 48 hours because even though the center of circulation is located in the far northern edge of the philippines the influence spreads down on top of the fact there's a monsoonal front. we're looking up to 300

millimeters of rain falling in the next 24 hours just from this particular system. not only is this going to move toward the north and west, but then eventually it's going to set its sights for taiwan. already we're seeing the winds increasing over taiwan and southeastern china, and then as we look into the fiddle of next week, korea, the korean peninsula and western japan need to look out for the possibility of this system approaching this direction. we're talking about a much stronger system by the time we go into the weekend as it will intensify into a typhoon. here's some pictures coming out of the philippines. in manila you can see the water piling up. yes, people are outing out their umbrellas but their feet are getting extremely wet because of the flooding and people having to avoid the roadways if at all possible. definitely causing troubles. ankle to knee deep waters being reported in some areas because of flooding. and we are again looking at the increase in rainfall as we go through the next couple of days up to 300 mill maerts of rainfall just in 24 to 48 hours for the philippines and then that influence spreads towards

the north into southeastern china and also into western portions of japan. in fact, interestingly enough because the system will be moving northward it will help to push moisture toward the north, a southerly flow into japan, but tokyo looking at a chance for some showers on saturday, so for saturday as we go into the weekend, that's when the clouds will increase and possibly dealing with some stronger weather by the middle of next week. here's a look at the forecast for europe, finally we are seeing some drier conditions over the balkan peninsula after that cut-off low pushes toward the east. but another problemmaker. a low pressure system off the coast of spain is really bringing some heavy rainfall, some strong storms. we're talking about severe weather in some places with hail and also maybe an isolated tornado. flooding in france, unfortunately, killed six people, and also one person is still missing. and it looks like we'll be dealing with even more wet weather for the western half of the continent. meanwhile, much drier conditions back toward the east. sunny skies for warsaw and vienna. highs in the lower 20s. wrapping things up with a look

at north america. the rain that's down toward the desert southwest because of odile or the remnants of odile is starting to wane but we're looking at possibility of seeing some heavy showers into new mexico and western texas. meanwhile, down towards the south, polo has weakened into a tropical storm. that's a good thing because it is also shrinking in the process. but still tropical storm watches and warnings are posted for parts of the baja california peninsula. it will move toward the west and stay as a tropical storm and weaken as we go towards next week. we're looking out for the possible ilgt of some strong storms into the weekend because of a cold front pushing toward the east and also up into the northeast. seeing some nice, pleasant temperatures for the afternoon but look out for frost advisories because of the overnight lows falling to around freezing. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook.

and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm miki yamamoto from tokyo. we'll have more news for you at the top of the hour. gg99ññwçç

a and provide support to the reiki authorities, the iraqi soldiers and the kurdish officials. under no circumstances, will there be french troops on the ground. involvedch planes are in full coordination with iraqi authorities and our international allies in order to weaken the terrorists. , the parliament will be informed of these operations.